#270 Full Sauna Guide - Benefits of Sauna and How Much Sauna to Take

Siim Land (0:00)

Hey, welcome back to the channel, my name is Siim Land, and in this video, we're going to talk about sauna. We're going to talk about all things sauna. What is the sauna? What are the benefits? How do you do the sauna? And those kind of things will be a full guide to taking a sauna, basically. This episode is brought to you by Katsu Training. Katsu bands incorporate blood flow moderation training that trick the body into thinking that it's lifting heavier weights than it actually is. When traditional weightlifting requires you to reach 70 to 80 percent of your one repetition maximum to stimulate muscle hypertrophy, then katsu bands achieve that effect only at 20 to 30 percent. So, it's perfect for treating injuries or used when you don't have access to heavier weights. Research about katsu bands also shows it lowers blood pressure, speeds up recovery from injuries, releases stem cells, builds muscle, burns fat, and prevents injury or muscle loss. These things are amazing, and I use them almost every day to recover from my heavier workouts. If you want to try out the katsu bands, then use the code SIIM for a 10% discount at katsuglobal.com. That's SIIM at katsuglobal.com.

Alright, so let's start with the absolute basics. What is the sauna? Essentially, the sauna is this small room that you heat up with firewood, usually traditional sauna, and you elevate the temperature of that room and you sit there. Usually, if you're like in Estonia or Finland or Russia, then you're probably there naked as well. And it's a very traditional, let's say, form of self-cleaning. It's one of the traditional places where people would clean themselves, like in ancient times or in a few, even a few centuries ago, people would be born in a sauna and they would also be basically washed, their last washing before they're buried was also in the sauna. So it's this kind of almost like a sacred place in these Nordic cultures because of the way it, you know, keeps you clean. And it also has a lot of health benefits, which we will talk about shortly. What happens in the sauna? Well, I'm going to reference to many other studies here. And this image is from actually a very new 2021 October study or more like a review by Rhonda Patrick, actually, sauna use as a lifestyle practice to extend health span. And what the sauna essentially does is that it elevates your core temperature. And of course, it induces sweating as a result of that. But this elevation of core temperature also has other effects, like increases your heart rate. It helps with blood redistribution, causes this small amount of heat stress that actually has a beneficial effect on the heart and stroke volume and blood pressure, all those kinds of things. Many other health benefits from this small amount of thermal stress that you experience. The normal human body temperature is around 36 to 37 degrees Celsius.

And this is the homeostasis, essentially, where your body is functioning the best at, and it takes least energy and least effort to stay healthy and functional. If you drop below that, you start to experience hypothermia, which eventually can lead to death. Whereas if you exceed that, then this condition is called hyperthermia or a fever, basically. This fever, you know, obviously can also be lethal in excess, but it also has some good health benefits. What essentially happens is that when you're in the sauna, you experience hyperthermia. You cause a small fever, and the fever evolutionarily has been one of the most common and one of the best, let's say, immune responses to any kinds of infections and diseases. So if you are getting sick with some sort of a pathogen, then the fever is a very natural and a healthy response to that, because with higher body temperature, you do see some immune system boosting benefits, and you can also potentially kill off these pathogens with the heat. So the fever is very evolutionary viable, and even suppressing fever with these anti-fever medications can be actually damaging and can be actually lethal in some cases. So the fever is very healthy in moderation. Excess fever obviously can lead to death, but a small fever for an infection and for the immune system is beneficial, and the sauna mimics that with the hypothermia and other benefits which we will talk about. But the fever aspect is one of them. The heat that you do experience from hypothermia follows this hormetic bell curve that describes the small amount of toxin or stress that has a beneficial effect on the body. And in small amounts, in moderate amounts, it has a positive effect, which is great. It increases resilience and increases other health parameters. Whereas if it's in excess, then it's eventually going to have diminishing returns, which will be harmful. And yeah, too much in excess will actually be damaging. And the same applies to everything like exercise, sauna, cold, fasting. They all have this hormetic bell curve. In small amounts, it's great. In excess, it's harmful. So what does the sauna do? I'm going to reference back from the Rhonda Patrick paper. So heat stress, it has been associated with many health benefits. It reduces the incidence of cardiovascular disease, reduces muscle atrophy or muscle loss. It reduces the risk of neurodegeneration and increases healthspan, which describes this functional fitness and functional healthspan or functional being youthful and being healthier for longer. The sauna, because it increases your core temperature, increases your heart rate, increases sweating, increases blood flow, all those things, it is considered like an exercise mimetic. And exercise obviously is very known to be healthy for us. And the sauna puts you into a similar physiological state that your body thinks that it's almost exercising. When you sit in the sauna, then you notice your heart beat racing a little bit. You're getting slightly tired, but not overly exhausted. It's not like sprinting. It's not sprinting. It's more of like a real brisk, brisk hiking. And a lot of those benefits are mediated by this hypothermia, increased core temperature and increased heart rate. From a vascular side, it improves vascular compliance, improves endothelial function, improves blood flow, can be beneficial for potential clearing out the plaque because of that, and also blood pressure improves. Although your heart rate increases in the sauna, after you come out, your basal resting blood pressure would generally get better as a result of that because of this small exercise. Exercise improves blood pressure and the regular sauna use as well. Although if you have already hypertension and high blood pressure, then you may want to be more cautious with the sauna and exercise as well. You don't want to be doing some crazy heat. You don't want to be raising the body temperature and blood pressure too much if you already have high blood pressure. But for healthy people, it's actually one of the best things for prevention, preventing against the hypertension. And lastly, what also happens with the sauna is the activation of these heat shock proteins.